2020 beirut port explosion at least 220 people are killed and ov 08 04
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2020 6 years ago Selected Events August 4 3 sources

A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage.

On August 4, in the year 2020, A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage. This event is recorded as a Selected Events event in the history of August 4, a notable event in this corner of history.

On 4 August 2020, a major explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, caused by the ignition of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. The chemical, confiscated in 2014 from the cargo ship MV Rhosus and stored at the Port of Beirut without adequate safety measures for six years, detonated after a fire broke out in a nearby warehouse. The explosion resulted in at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and approximately 300,000 displaced people, alongside property damage estimated at US$15 billion. The blast released energy comparable to 1.1 kilotons of TNT, ranking it among the most powerful non-nuclear explosions ever recorded and the largest single detonation of ammonium nitrate.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on August 4, 2020 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Selected Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 3 Wikipedia articles.
  • The event is associated with a specific geographical location (see map below).
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 21 July 2026.

On This Date in History

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 Aug 4 Charles Cyphers, American actor (born 1939)
Notable Deaths 2024 Aug 4 Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2024 Aug 4 Duane Thomas, American football player (born 1947)
Notable Deaths 2023 Aug 4 Dalia Fadila, Israeli educator (born 1971/1972)
Historical Events 2020 Aug 4 Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate…
Historical Events 2019 Aug 4 Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass…
Notable Deaths 2019 Aug 4 Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician and theorist for the Khmer Rouge (born 1926)
Historical Events 2018 Aug 4 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the…
Historical Events 2018 Aug 4 Crisis in Venezuela: Seven people are injured when two drones detonate explosives on Avenida Bolívar, Caracas while…
Notable Deaths 2015 Aug 4 Elsie Hillman, American philanthropist and politician (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2015 Aug 4 Les Munro, New Zealand soldier and pilot (born 1919)
Notable Deaths 2015 Aug 4 John Rudometkin, American basketball player (born 1940)
Notable Deaths 2015 Aug 4 Billy Sherrill, American songwriter and producer (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2014 Aug 4 James Brady, American activist and politician, 15th White House Press Secretary (born 1940)
Notable Deaths 2014 Aug 4 Chester Crandell, American lawyer and politician (born 1946)
Notable Deaths 2014 Aug 4 Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (born 1953)
Selected Events 2014 Aug 4 Julieka Ivanna Dhu, an Aboriginal Australian woman, died in police custody after her deteriorating condition was…
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Keith H. Basso, American anthropologist and academic (born 1940)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Olavi J. Mattila, Finnish engineer and politician, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1918)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Renato Ruggiero, Italian lawyer and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Tony Snell, English lieutenant and pilot (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2013 Aug 4 Sandy Woodward, English admiral (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2012 Aug 4 Johnnie Bassett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1935)
Notable Deaths 2012 Aug 4 Brian Crozier, Australian-English journalist and historian (born 1918)
Notable Deaths 2012 Aug 4 Bud Riley, American football player and coach (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2011 Aug 4 Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (born 1977)
Notable Deaths 2009 Aug 4 Blake Snyder, American screenwriter and producer (born 1957)
Notable Deaths 2008 Aug 4 Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (born 1985)
Historical Events 2007 Aug 4 NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is launched.
Notable Deaths 2007 Aug 4 Lee Hazlewood, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1929)
Notable Deaths 2007 Aug 4 Raul Hilberg, Austrian-American political scientist and historian (born 1926)
Selected Events 2007 Aug 4 An airport police officer discovered a suitcase containing approximately US$800,000 as it passed through security at…
Historical Events 2006 Aug 4 A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against…
Selected Events 2006 Aug 4 Sri Lankan civil war: Seventeen employees of the French nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred…
Notable Deaths 2005 Aug 4 Anatoly Larkin, Russian-American physicist and theorist (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2005 Aug 4 Iván Szabó, Hungarian economist and politician, Minister of Finance of Hungary (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2004 Aug 4 Mary Sherman Morgan, American chemist and engineer (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2004 Aug 4 Hossein Panahi (Persian: حسین پناهی), Iranian actor and poet (born 1956)
Notable Deaths 2003 Aug 4 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
Notable Deaths 1999 Aug 4 Victor Mature, American actor (born 1913)
Notable Births 1998 Aug 4 Lil Skies, American rapper
Notable Deaths 1998 Aug 4 Yury Artyukhin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 1997 Aug 4 Jeanne Calment, French super-centenarian; holds records for the world's substantiated longest-lived person (born 1875)
Selected Events 1997 Aug 4 French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment died at the age of 122 years, 164 days, with the longest confirmed human…
Notable Deaths 1996 Aug 4 Geoff Hamilton, English gardener, author, and television host (born 1936)
Historical Events 1995 Aug 4 Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.
Notable Births 1995 Aug 4 Bruna Marquezine, Brazilian actress
Selected Events 1995 Aug 4 Yugoslav Wars: The Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence…
Notable Births 1994 Aug 4 Bobby Shmurda, American rapper

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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